SWEETWATER, NOLAN COUNTY - Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. (BNSF) plans to develop a $28 million logistics center and make improvements to an existing rail yard and mainline infrastructure with 40,000 feet of new tracks.

The new logistics center is designed to meet the growing supply chain needs of a strong energy corridor across Texas for many commodities such as fracking sand, aggregate, pipe, clay, barite and other drilling materials in the Permian Basin and Cline Shale.

The project will enhance the area's agricultural transportation capacity through a collaboration with Cape & Son and will realign some of the existing track to allow for loading grain unit trains. Cape & Son is expanding operations to accommodate grain unit trains as part of the new development.

The capital improvement is part of a record $4.3 billion network-wide investment for BNSF in 2013. The BNSF Logistics Center at Sweetwater is expected to be ready for business during summer 2014.